I Don't Speak French BUT I Can Speak Music

La Blogotheque - http://www.blogotheque.net - talk about another way to share music and view intimate versions of some of your top indie artists, new versions of great songs often with other well-known collaborators in unique settings throughout Paris (think Andrew Bird adding his violin and whistling for St. Vincent in a top level apartment with 30 people at sunset). Another really cool thing about these mini concerts is that they are filmed in one take, anything can happen, it is guerrilla film making where musicians are the protagonists. Calling them 'Takeaway Shows" (in French it is Les Concerts A Emporter); is very fitting.

It only make sense that Phoenix, the French band from Versailles that finally got their big U.S. break with their last album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, recently performed for the web site. They picked one of the most visit sites in Paris, the Trocadero Square in front of the Eiffel Tower, then they hopped on top of a double decker tour bus, performed a song and continued singing as they hopped off at the base of the Parisian landmark.

Phoenix - Lizstomania / One time too many - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

My other favorite posting featured Bon Iver, the band created by Justin Vernon, the falsetto indie singer that made one of the great albums of 2008 (actually came out independently in 2007) - For Emma, Forever Ago, in his father's northern Wisconsin cabin in three months during winter. Peter Gabriel recently covered Bon Iver's song Flume in his recent album of covers (scroll down the blog to hear it).

Bon Iver - Wolves (act I & II) - Une Soiree de Poche from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Get on the web site, they have such a catalogue of musicians they have filmed - Wilco, The Antlers, Yo La Tango, and even Tom Jones.

If you want to check out the English's version of rogue performances, visit Black Cab Sessions - http://www.blackcabsessions.com - the name is very appropriate.

Be the first to listen to the new Wilco album!

This just in from Digital Music News:

*Wilco is now streaming its upcoming album online, a reaction to a recent leak.  Wilco (The Album) is available on-demand on wilcoworld.net, or, as many have already discovered, as a free download across the web.

Click HERE to start your listening bliss!

This album is not due out until June 30, 2009 so you're welcome.

WILCO

Album Tracks:

1. Wilco (the song)  2. Deeper Down 3. One Wing 4. Bull Black Nova  5. You And I featuring Feist  6. You Never Know   7. Country Disappeared   8. Solitaire   9. I'll Fight   10. Sonny Feeling  11. Everlasting Everything 

My quick thoughts:

I think it is a little pretentious to be a band called Wilco, call your album Wilco, and have your first song called Wilco where the chorus is 'Wilco, Wilco, Wilco, Wilco...'

The song 'You and I' is cute and simple and featuring indie chart topper Feist.

If you have been a fan of Wilco for awhile and really liked their sixth album from 2007 Sky Blue Sky then you will really like this album; though a lot of other bloggers think it is more like their fifth album A Ghost is Born. My favorite is still Yankee Hotel Foxtrot; the song Jesus, etc. is one of my go to songs for every occasion.

Info on Wilco for beginners:

They are an indie rock band with definitive and consistent streaks of alternative country; they are from and still based in Chicago. They formed in 1994, most members of the band came from the band Uncle Tupelo. Jeff Tweedy is the lead singer, songwriter, and unstable star of Wilco. He has cleaned up his act in the past three years and can now be counted on to show up and put on a good show; displaying solid frontman skills while maintaining relative sobriety. Wilco (The Album) is their seventh studio album so it is safe to say they have their sound down, they know their fans, and they are beloved by their record company.